Secret Rulebook of Cheating

Rule #26: Dry Clean the Lipstick Off Your Shirt

The rest of our dinner went by without any more pre-heart-attack situations. Well, almost.

The fight was long behind us and we were bantering the night away. At least, that was what was going on above the table. Underneath, Jason's knee was brushing against mine, making it impossible for me not to think about more parts of him grazing more parts of me. And when my phone beeped with a new message, it was more than welcome.

From: Jason

'Still up for that French session?'

I cast a glance his way from the corner of my eye, trying to remain as unaffected as possible on the outside, above the table. He was seemingly paying attention to the joke Rob was telling but I noticed when he stole his own glance in my direction.

'You bet,' I typed quickly and pressed send.

I looked around to make sure both the other girls were captivated by Rob's words so that none of them would follow me and excused myself quietly. I entered the girls' bathroom and peered under the stalls' doors. They were all empty. Finally some luck tonight.

'Girls'. Third stall,' I sent instructions.

Not a minute later, I saw his sneakers pass the second stall – the one I was in. I silently pulled the door open and stepped out. He was just peeking in the third stall and took a moment, probably puzzled over why he didn't find me in there. Just as he turned to exit, I pushed him back in. His back hit the side wall and I twirled the lock behind me as I stepped in the space between his feet. I took advantage of his initial shock and glued my mouth to his. He responded immediately, the kiss growing stronger by the second. He had completely regained himself and in a few twists of our tongues he forced me back with his body until my back met the opposite wall. Jason intertwined his fingers with mine and raised them above my head, pressing my hands to the wall.

He peeled his mouth off of mine and my eyes flew open. Why are your lips not on mine? Why?

'You weren't in the third stall,' Jason scolded me.

I couldn't help my pleased smile. 'I'm here now, aren't I?' I retorted all-knowingly.

He narrowed his eyes at me. He leaned in again and just as I thought he'd kiss me again, he stopped. I pushed the bottom of my head off the wall trying to melt the last centimetre but he backed away. He was still pinning my hands to the tile and I couldn't move forward. That damn bastard. He had fallen for my little trick and was now making me pay. It was my turn to narrow my eyes at him and his to smirk back. Obviously, satisfied by the result, he didn't wait long to crash his lips back onto mine.

Our make-out session went on for a little while until it was interrupted by a burst of giggles on the other side of the stall door. Jason pulled away abruptly and we both stood still with pointed ears. The laughter soon faded into speech and thankfully, neither of the two voices belonged to Sylvia or Nadia. Jason and I stood motionless while the girls chit-chatted about some hot guy giving one of them flirty looks all night, from the table next to them. I instinctively questioned Jason with my eyes and he adopted a fake-offended look. How dared I accuse him? He was the embodiment of innocence.

The girls kept discussing some strategies to approach the guy and it went on forever. I was becoming impatient. We needed to get back to the table soon. That was when I heard a sound - a sound typical for the surrounding but totally unexpected, especially coming from right beside me. It was the sound of someone breaking wind!

'Oh my god, there's someone in here!' one of the girls exclaimed.

'Ew!' the other one joined in. 'Let's get out of here before it starts to stink.'

The door clicked shut and the bathroom went silent. I looked at Jason with the widest eyes. I mean couldn't he restrain himself? He was in the company of three girls, one, literally in his arms. Wrong. His arms weren't around me. One of them was stuck to his mouth. A second passed before I made sense of his weird pose and burst out laughing. He hadn't really cut one, he had imitated the sound by blowing air on the skin of his arm. And it had worked. It had chased the chatty girls away.

Jason grinned pleased by himself.

'I'll go first,' I announced quietly as my laughter died.

He laid his hands on the tile on both sides of my head not letting me go. 'One more minute,' he bargained.

I shook my head. 'This is too much of a risk as it is.'

His hands slid back to his sides reluctantly and I went out of the stall. I threw one quick glance at myself in the mirror and smoothed my hair. There was no trace of my lip-gloss but that was okay. As long as it wasn't smudged.

As soon as I found myself on the other side of the bathroom door I sent him one quick 'coast is clear' text. Jason followed me outside and I saw him walk into the men's room to wait for another minute before he returned to the table.

I took my seat casually as if I hadn't just had the most intense make-out session in the ladies room. The couples were having some conversations between themselves and no one said anything about my not-so-soon return.

'Would you believe the line to the guys' bathroom?' I heard Jason's voice from somewhere above me in a moment.

Dan looked up from Sylvia and smirked. 'Yeah, if that line wore lipstick.'

What?

'What?' Jason called out. Dan was pointing to the collar of his shirt. 'That's from yesterday,' he hurried to make some excuse as his eyes scanned the cloth for a stain.

Dan laughed. 'Relax bro. I'm messing with you. There's nothing there.'

Oh boy. And this was just the beginning of the night!